Comments

It's a shame he played his entire career in the pre ESPN world. Deacon was one part Lawrence Taylor and one part Reggie White. Yet he seems like he's barely remembered.

Jones was strip sacking QBs long before LT made it his move. Likewise, Reggie White's hump move is a direct decendent of Jones's head slap, just modified for the rules of the era.

And before anyone cries "hyperbole," no, it is not. It's a rare man that actually deserves to be mentioned with those two men, and they're not names I drop lightly. Nor are they names dropped just to speak kindly of the recently departed. They're merely his peers. Jones genuinely was That Good.

I'm far too young to have ever seen him play but I always remember my father talking about him whenever I mention these young whippersnapper DEs who are so good. He said watching him in the NFL was like watching some of these Men-Among- Boys college superstars when they were in college. But he was doing it in the NFL.

When I saw he passed I went to Wikipedia where they have listed his unofficial stats (as most here know sack stats weren't kept during his time). Appparently, not only did he coin the term sack - he would own the record for a season. Twice.
One season he had 26 and another he had 24. And another he had 22.

And those are all during 14 game seasons AND without Brett Favre falling down in front of him. And on top of that they threw fewer passes in those days as well.

It'd be interesting to see a scouting report on him sort of like Matt Waldman (I think?) did recently on Jim Brown.

Most Recent FO Features

2017 was indeed The Year of the Failed Completion. This is the stat where Joe Flacco stands out, but not in a good way. Also: a most conservative rookie, weird splits for Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, and more Jarvis Landry shortcomings.